whine

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English whinen,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English hwīnan (“to whiz, whistle through the air”),^[5][3][6][7] recorded once in Old English, of a whizzing arrow.^[5][8][7] The Old English verb continues Proto-Germanic *hwīnaną,^[9][1] and is cognate with Old Norse hvína (“to whiz, whistle in the air”),^{[5][10][8][11]} Swedish hvina and Danish hvine.^[5][10] Barnhart adds Old High German weiōn (“to cry, shout”) and wihōn (“to neigh”), the ancestor of German wiehern.^[10][12] The weak grade of the stem is seen in hvinr (“a whizzing”) and in late hwinsian, used of dogs whining, the source of whinge,^[5][8] which matches winisōn, the source of German winseln.^[8][4] The word is ultimately imitative,^[10][4][13] and Barnhart and Köbler connect the imitative base with Proto-Indo-European *ḱwey- (“to hiss, whistle”).^[10][9][1] It is not related to weinen or Dutch wenen (“to weep”).^[13][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of persons, to utter a low, rather shrill, drawn-out cry, usually of pain or distress: about 1275, in the poem Sinners Beware.^[5] Barnhart dates whynen, to make a low cry of pain or distress, probably before 1300, in Kyng Alisaunder.^[10] In Old English the verb had been used only of the whizzing of an arrow.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

From about 1330 the verb was used of animals, especially dogs, and formerly also of a horse whinnying or an otter crying;^[5] the Middle English Dictionary records it for a pig's squeal and a horse's whinny as well,^[2] and Chaucer used it once in that sense.^[14][7] The meaning "to complain in a feeble or undignified way" is first found in 1530, in Tyndale's Bible;^[5][10] Etymonline dates it to the 1520s.^[4] Shakespeare used it transitively, to waste something in whining (Coriolanus, before 1616); by 1698 it meant to say something in a whining tone.^[5] The noun followed in 1633, in Phineas Fletcher.^[5][11][10] Johnson (1755) defined it as a plaintive noise, or a mean or affected complaint.^[15] From 1874 the verb was used of things, such as machines or the wind.^[5] Etymonline dates whiner to about 1600.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1275 – of persons, to cry in a low, plaintive way.^[5]
• c. 1330 – of animals, especially dogs.^[5]
• 1530 – to complain in a feeble, peevish way.^[5][10]
• before 1616 – transitive, to waste in whining.^[5]
• 1633 – noun, a whining cry.^[5][11]
• 1698 – to say in a whining tone.^[5]
• 1874 – of things, to make a high-pitched sound.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make a long, high-pitched, plaintive cry, as a dog or an unhappy child does: The puppy whined outside the kitchen door.^[16][11][5]
2. To make a similar high, steady sound: The engine whined as the car climbed the hill.^[11][5][16]
3. To complain in a peevish, childish way.^[11][5][16]
4. To say something in a whining tone.^[16][5][11]

Noun

1. A long, high-pitched, plaintive cry.^[16][11][5]
2. A continuous high-pitched sound, as of a machine.^[16][11]
3. A peevish complaint.^[16][5]

Word family

• whiner
• whiningly
• whiny

Related words

• whinge
• whinny
• whimper
• wine

Usage notes

Whine and wine are listed by Dictionary.com as words easily confused.^[17] The OED gives /wʌɪn/ for British English and /(h)waɪn/ for American English, where the /h/ is optional.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
8. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
13. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
17. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House